Thought I would get some opinions on this before I decide what to do. My daughter has had this chromebook for just over 2 years. Lenovo 300e 2nd Gen
I know the initial reaction will be kid with chromebook, rough as guts, but she is very careful with it. Not a scratch or dent on the thing and been in a case all its life, it actually has not had a whole lot of use. Last month she came home upset one day because the screen has cracked. I thought she must have dropped it but she said she was just opening it and noticed it was cracked. On closer inspection it seems there is a major design flaw in the hinges and how they are mounted to the plastic lid. Each side hinge has 3 screws which thread into moulded mounting holes on the lid. These have all broken away from the plastic and that has meant the only thing holding the top of the laptop to the rest of the body is the screen and the two metal supports that go the height of the screen to the top (up near webcam). Although even one of these has fatigued and broken, so it was literally one screw and the clips of the screen holding it all together. All of this has meant the screen flexes a lot when opening the lid and has lead to the screen cracking and now is intermittently working.
Initially I thought replace the screen, which is about $60-100 on aliexpress. But not much point doing this without replacing the lid so the hinges work properly (it will just crack again), this adds ~ another $130ish. So round numbers about $250 to fix it all up using aliexpress parts which isn't 100% guaranteed.
Ultimately I think this is a really crappy design, for something that cost $500 I would expect it to be designed better and this is marginal under the CGA as not being fit for the purpose intended. I am guessing it has only been opened and shut 500 times (doesn't get used every day and is very rarely used at home). Anyone have experience trying to do this recently with Noel Leeming for a similar issue or any other suggestions? Or just cut my losses, chuck it in the e-waste and buy a new one? Seems such a waste but seems to be the approach with manufacturing these days...